This blog is all about how I how used humor to remain sane while dealing with the insanity of a brain tumor the size of my wife’s fist. Why blog? To help other folks cope with serious health issues/brain tumors/cancer and give anybody wading through the muck of rehabilitation some hope or at least a chuckle or two. It will include a vaguely chronological story, books reviews, presentations to rehab patients, etc.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

“How to Build a Happier Brain”

If
there’s one thing that I’ve learned from presenting to brain tumor/stroke
victims and caregivers, they all could be happier. That’s not to say that these
victims haven’t been unfairly assaulted with horrific diseases, they have. I
wish, though, they could enjoy the moments of happiness or fun or humor that
drifts into their lives a bit more.

That
thought is at the heart of this article, learning to enjoy the moments you
should be able to enjoy instead of relentlessly focusing on the negative.

Beck
says it much better, though, saying “There is a motif, in fiction and in life,
of people having wonderful things happen to them, but still ending up unhappy.
We can adapt to anything, it seems—you can get your dream job, marry a
wonderful human, finally get 1 million dollars or Twitter followers—eventually
we acclimate and find new things to complain about.”

Beck
goes on to cite Dr. Rick Hanson, a neuropsychologist, a member of U.C.
Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center's advisory board, and author of the book
Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain
Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence, in which he observes that “our
brains are naturally wired to focus on the negative, which can make us feel
stressed and unhappy even though there are a lot of positive things in our
lives.”

The
rest of the article relates an interview with Dr. Hanson in which he discusses “A
neuropsychological approach to happiness, by meeting core needs (safety,
satisfaction, and connection) and training neurons to overcome a negativity
bias.”

As
an exercise advocate, I also want to point out that, regarding exercise, “Research
shows that exercise is a very good physical health factor obviously, but it
also confers mental health benefits. For example, regular exercise is roughly
as powerful on average for mild depression as medication is, studies show.”